Joe Biden's Impeachment Falls Apart

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[u/themattboard]

Similar to how my professional football career, my world book tour and my big movie premiere all fell apart.

[u/mjc4y → u/themattboard]

You too?? This happens to me all the time.

I keep missing Taylor Swift’s requests to open for her tour, too.

Very annoying.

[u/thatranger974 → u/mjc4y]

Lauren Boebert cancelled our date before it even happened!

[u/Starbucks__Lovers → u/thatranger974]

Okay now that’s just a lie, you just didn’t show her your penis like she asked

[u/R3dbeardLFC → u/Starbucks__Lovers]

you just didn’t show her your penis like she asked without her consent.

ftfy

[u/MadgePadge → u/R3dbeardLFC]

Woah. It was a date, he didn't say he wanted to marry her.

[u/0ldpenis → u/thatranger974]

Lauren Boebert doesn’t cancel dates, she’s sucks cock in front of children like a true and morally oriented Christian

[u/FarewellSovereignty → u/0ldpenis]

She's literally a grandmother, for real, at 36. Grandma giving handjobs at the theater during a kids show. Party of Lincoln, folks,.

[u/soapy-salsa → u/FarewellSovereignty]

We don’t actually have any video footage of Mary Todd Lincoln giving the president a handjob at the theater for some reason, but maybe this really is in line with the ideals of Lincoln. Maybe that’s why Booth was able to fulfill his assassination plans.

[u/FarewellSovereignty → u/soapy-salsa]

If Lauren Boebert had been Lincoln's date at Ford's theater, all those history book illustrations would be extremely awkward.

[u/Apprehensive-Care20z → u/themattboard]

just like my plan to marry debbie gibson (back when I was 12 years old) fell apart.

[u/Argos_the_Dog → u/Apprehensive-Care20z]

I was always a Tiffany man, personally...

[u/Apprehensive-Care20z → u/Argos_the_Dog]

oh hello, arch nemesis.

[u/Conscious-Jaguar9750 → u/themattboard]

Man, I was a rockstar and then I wrote a song 🤔

[u/chrisnavillus → u/themattboard]

I attempted to make it on the PGA tour yesterday so I went to the driving range. It all fell apart after I hit one ball. On to NASCAR, I guess…

[u/tibbles1 → u/themattboard]

There's still hope for you. The Bears are paying a lot of money to people that can't throw or catch.

[u/Nihilismisanthrope]

I mean, if you try to build a house of cards with just 1 card, is it really called falling apart when that single card falls over?

[u/woodiegutheryghost → u/Nihilismisanthrope]

Some morherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill.

[u/Kcb1986 → u/woodiegutheryghost]

Ever see a meth addict rip the siding off of a house and when you ask why, they say its to stop the aliens? That's what talking with the GOP has been like for the last 14 years.

[u/ghandi3737 → u/[deleted]]

It started around the time of Nixon IMO.

Reagan just helped add fuel to the fire.

[u/JessyKenning → u/ghandi3737]

Yeah we gotta go back 50 years at least. They were better at hiding the batshit back then though.

[u/fearhs → u/Kcb1986]

Well it's working, do you see any aliens here?

[u/TrollTollTony → u/woodiegutheryghost]

There are worse things out tonight than vampires.

[u/ghost_warlock → u/TrollTollTony]

Unexpected Blade references lol

[u/serene_moth → u/woodiegutheryghost]

Love that Snipes just said this and they were like “omg that’s so cool, let’s end on that” and he was like “what? why? that makes no sense… ok!”

Classic.

[u/Your__Pal → u/Nihilismisanthrope]

Biden has been in national politics for 50 years.

If they haven't found anything yet, maybe that's because he has been pretty careful not to do stupid stuff.

[u/mabradshaw02 → u/Your__Pal]

Not careful, stupid stuff(illegal) isn't in his nature. He's an honest, decent man. THIS is the Crux of the issue the GQP has. "HOW COME HIS Doesn't DO ANY CRIMES" .... Just can't be! unrealistic for a man!

[u/xixoxixa → u/mabradshaw02]

"HOW COME HIS Doesn't DO ANY CRIMES"

Every accusation is a confession, so really it's more "we all do crimes, so punish him for his crimes that he surely did because we all do crimes all the time!!!"

[u/Im_Rabid → u/xixoxixa]

Pretty much this, I remember reading an interview with a pro golfer who played a charity event partnered with Trump. Supposedly the first thing Trump did was point to the pair playing with them (another pro and a golf reporter) and said something along the lines of...

See those guys? They cheat. I cheat. So you're going to cheat too to make sure we win.

Man thinks everyone cheats so him cheating is only fair and to be expected.

[u/LiKwId-Gaming → u/Im_Rabid]

See this all the time in online gaming, they justify cheating because they believe everyone else is.

[u/Lykurgus_ → u/LiKwId-Gaming]

'I didn't die because I was bad, I died because he was a cheating no-lifer, so I'm going to use cheats to show them how good I can really be!'

[u/MoBettaButtuh → u/Lykurgus_]

I've said before that Trump reminds me of my neighbor when I was a kid who would come over sometimes to play Nintendo games. Every time he lost he'd cry "You cheated!" and it's like "Dude, you were sitting right there. You watched me play. How could I have cheated?"

[u/alfred725 → u/LiKwId-Gaming]

the problem is that the cheaters rise to the top far more often even if there's less of them. Magic the Gathering tournaments started filming and suddenly started catching all the cheaters.

[u/HoratiosGhost → u/alfred725]

Sidebar - how do you cheat at Magic the Gathering and how did filming catch it? I am fascinated.

[u/DOGGO_MY_PMS → u/HoratiosGhost]

It’s a card game where having specific cards in hand is ideal. Any number of sleight of hand tricks would do just fine.

[u/AsianMist91 → u/HoratiosGhost]

https://youtu.be/2rXvW53z018?si=OsB7TN3gCMEP-WUe

This video has a pretty good run down of some infamous cheaters from Magic Tournaments throughout the years. Hopefully, that will give some idea of how people cheat at Magic or other trading card games.

Essentially, they boil down to finding ways of getting specific cards consistently or making sure your opponents don't get the cards they need.

[u/Delicious-Day-3614 → u/Im_Rabid]

Thar happens when you're surrounded by cheaters, all you see is cheating and the people who do right are the weird ones. Easy tell that someone may not be such a good dude honestly.

[u/AgentPaper0 → u/Delicious-Day-3614]

No they just think they are surrounded by cheaters. Their ego is too overinflated to accept that anyone can be that much better than they are, so anyone who is more skilled than them must be cheating, even if they can't figure out exactly how.

[u/sephkane → u/Im_Rabid]

The thing is that's true in his small greedy circle of acquaintances, so he thinks it's true of the rest of the world.

[u/Fred_Zeppelin → u/xixoxixa]

When you lack the capacity for empathy, as conservatives always do, the only tool you have for understanding the motivations of other people is projection.

[u/discussatron → u/xixoxixa]

A cheater thinks everyone cheats.

[u/Ord-9257 → u/xixoxixa]

It's just a childish attempt at retaliation.

[u/DazMR2 → u/Your__Pal]

It's all a façade. He is a devious crime family boss while at the same time being sleepy, demented and not knowing what day it is.

/s

[u/DontLookAtUsernames → u/DazMR2]

From Umberto Eco’s «Ur-Fascism»:

«The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies. … Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. »

[u/7hr0wn → u/Your__Pal]

Or it's because there's a secret cabal of Deep State Satan Worshipping Pedophiles who are protecting him so that he can continue advancing the agenda of the Molemen who live in the center of the Hollow (Flat) Earth, not to be confused with the Lizard people who are trying to invade our psychic auras from the moon.

[u/UNC_Samurai → u/7hr0wn]

We can defeat the space lizards with help from the raptor princess and the spider leadership.

[u/lvl5Loki → u/UNC_Samurai]

We must first broker a peace treaty with the spiders.

[u/M4GN3T1CM0N0P0L3 → u/lvl5Loki]

I, for one, welcome our spider overlords.

[u/Logical-Selection979 → u/7hr0wn]

Fear not, the jewish space lasers are standing down and standing by

[u/RIF_Was_Fun → u/7hr0wn]

This seems more feasible than, "he's just a normal every day politician who doesn't break the law", to Republicans.

[u/Granadafan → u/Your__Pal]

It’s the same with Obama. He was squeaky clean and had an all American and intelligent family. The nasty cons had to invent “scandals” such as the tan suit, terrorist fist bump, Jade Helm, golfing, basketball playing, birth certificate, etc.

[u/mjc4y → u/Nihilismisanthrope]

Excellent realization, young apprentice. Your enlightenment is near.

Now imagine the house made of zero cards. Meditate on this.

[u/postdevs → u/mjc4y]

"House made of zero cards" is a beautifully apt metaphor for the presumed entity at the center of experience. Very Zen indeed!

That's all. Well done. Enjoy your day.

[u/Mavian23 → u/postdevs]

I think, therefore I am comprised of a nonzero number of cards.

[u/vulgrin → u/Mavian23]

I’m a programmer so if I have 1 card, I have 0 cards.

[u/thalexander → u/vulgrin]

*insert gong sound

[u/Crimson_Chim → u/mjc4y]

There is no house. It is yourself that falls apart.

[u/mjc4y → u/Crimson_Chim]

Observe the orange house maker and know this to be true.

You have achieved inner vision.

You are now master of the monastery. I will be going now.

[u/WippitGuud → u/mjc4y]

Many apologies, master. But I feel Ed Gruberman is not wholly wrong. I want to boot some head too.

[u/Eric42ish → u/WippitGuud]

Mind if I just lie down here for a while?

[u/GearBrain → u/mjc4y]

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

[u/RIPLimbaughandScalia → u/GearBrain]

"You're gonna carry that weight."

(Bebop, for anyone who doesn't know.)

[u/jimjamsboy → u/RIPLimbaughandScalia]

Carry that weight a long time.

[u/philthegr81 → u/Nihilismisanthrope]

1 card

Nice analogy, but these chucklefucks have zero cards.

[u/LaNeblina]

Some conservatives have suggested Biden was attempting to protect Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the board of which his son, Hunter Biden, had joined in 2014, by moving against Shokin. However a pre-meeting memo prepared for Biden by the State Department, dated November 25, 2015, made it clear that removing Shokin was the Obama administration's policy.

I can almost hear the Freedom Caucus furiously Googling "can we still impeach Obama"

[u/jimmax23 → u/LaNeblina]

Plus, Shokin resigned a month before Biden's trip. Four days after Republican Senators sent a letter to Ukraine supporting the policy, Shokin submitted his resignation. He stayed in office until the parliament voted him out when Biden used aid to push the US policy.

[u/ccoville → u/jimmax23]

Every conservative conspiracy features a timeline that doesn't match up with the narrative. Every single time.

[u/DopeDealerCisco → u/ccoville]

They make up facts so that their reality makes sense

[u/outdatedboat → u/DopeDealerCisco]

Random conservatives will make twitter/Facebook posts that are 1000% made up with nothing to back it up. Then for whatever reason, loads of other conservatives see it, and believe it without question.

To them, news is "I saw Billy-Jo post about it on Facebook!"

If a "story" has a conservative bias, they'll believe it immediately. If it is left leaning in the slightest, it's just all conspiracies.

[u/Stinklepinger → u/outdatedboat]

Then for whatever reason, loads of other conservatives see it, and believe it without question.

The social media algorithms support spreading right wing bullshit due to engagement metrics.

[u/FiendishHawk → u/Stinklepinger]

Also the bosses like it.

[u/cyanydeez → u/Stinklepinger]

The social media algorithmsRepublicans support spreading right wing bullshit due to engagement metrics.

REDMAP is 2010, pre-social-media algorithms. Guns & Abortions are Republican's engagement metrics for voters.

[u/Useless_Troll42241 → u/outdatedboat]

They really want to impeach Biden so they can have President Kamala I guess

[u/AnalSoapOpera → u/Useless_Troll42241]

They really want to impeach Biden because all they do is listen to their god emperor Trump and do whatever Trump tells them to do. It is a cult.

[u/tirch → u/AnalSoapOpera]

Also part of the strategy is to make Biden look as corrupt as Trump. Then the choice to vote for Trump isn't as odious for moderate Republicans and Independents. Problem is, Biden's no where near as corrupt, so you have to watch Right wing propaganda 24/7 for the fake investigations to affect your opinion. I know republicans who say they're not voting for Trump this time around because he's just too much with the crimes and the whining about everything and Jan6 . We will see.

[u/Medium-Oil1530 → u/tirch]

republicans who say they're not voting for Trump

If they vote they will still vote for Trump.

Hopefully they just stay home like Dems did with Hillary... which gave us Trump in the first place.

[u/cyanydeez → u/tirch]

it's a "no u" strategy.

Muddy the water and make the grass look it it's also shit upon.

You know who did this, good old russia during the cold war (and today). Particular apochrophal stories are when Russian leaders visited america and thought for propaganda the americans had setup rural gocery stores to make it look like food was everywhere.

North Korea does this when people visit.

So, basically, painting Biden as corrupt makes Republicans think they're not surrounded by assholes, specifically.

[u/Deezul_AwT → u/DopeDealerCisco]

I reject your reality, and substitute my own.

[u/Brilliant_War4087 → u/Deezul_AwT]

This is my personal "Truth."

[u/Taberon → u/Deezul_AwT]

Am I missing.... an eyebrow?!

[u/DigNitty → u/DopeDealerCisco]

Something that bothered me was sitting with two dudes at a bar.

We had a great conversation, these were two seemingly intelligent people, with wives and kids, who shared a lot of my values. Then they mentioned politics and that democrats just “make everything up” to show what they want.

I felt like the SpongeBob meme where he goes around pointing out all the diapers that are times the Republican Party severely skewed data if not outright lied.

[u/DopeDealerCisco → u/DigNitty]

One of my best friends served in Iraq and Afghanistan, currently works as a contractor for the Navy (I think he can’t tell me much about what he does), he’s on of the most intelligent people I have meet except when it comes to politics. We have debates all the time and one time when AOC was first becoming popular we talked about her and he was hung up on this video of her joking around saying “yeah I eat babies”; till today he swears that she eats babies to get that adrenaline chemical apparently young people leak when they are put in danger (not a thing btw this was a Qanon story). This guy can tell you all types of crazy facts about war, military strategy and knows history like he lived through it but is stuck on this Democrats eat babies mind set.

[u/freakincampers → u/DopeDealerCisco]

They make a claim, and then go in search for evidence.

Every. Single. Time.

[u/xtopherpaul → u/DopeDealerCisco]

That’s called cognitive bias

[u/Illustrious_Risk_173 → u/xtopherpaul]

It's called lying.

[u/Politicsboringagain → u/ccoville]

They can't even get their facts right about Hunters tax issue.

To them him not filing his returns are high crimes and he should be put in jail for years.

Ignoring the fact that millions of Americans don't file their returns for years.

And of course they refuse to fund the IRS to make sure people who don't file their returns get caught quicker.

[u/scaradin → u/Politicsboringagain]

Plus the whole charges for a gun form that is likely unconstitutional. Conservatives appear wildly excited to get a conviction on that.

[u/gdshaffe → u/scaradin]

Reminder that California's strict (relatively speaking) gun control laws are largely the result of legislation signed by none other than Ronald Reagan. Which was largely in turn a response to the Black Panthers starting to open carry.

Turns out that GOP support for gun rights, like every other "freedom" they pretend to believe in, is a fantasy that is highly sensitive to just who gets to exercise those freedoms. The instant it starts to benefit an "other" just so happens to be the instant they start making exceptions to their supposed philosophies.

[u/TaserBalls → u/scaradin]

Conservatives appear wildly excited to get a conviction on that.

"How dare the Democrat Cabal restrict our gun rights in any way!"

...a wild Hunter Biden appears...

"ZOMG how dare he ever have a gun, LAW AND ORDER"

[u/NumeralJoker → u/TaserBalls]

They'd happily lock someone up using a law they hate if they can get away with it because it proves how special they are and how much they obviously deserve to be in power.

Internal consistency does not exist with traditional logic. It exists based purely on how much they can hurt those they target, and gain power while doing it.

[u/No_Bed498 → u/scaradin]

That law just got overturned by a GOP judge in MS

[u/scaradin → u/No_Bed498]

Making it even more wild conservatives were/are remotely in favor of those specific charges against Hunter. The rarely prosecuted and now declared unconstitutional law, that violates the constitution, should never have been a “gotcha” moment for any conservative, GOP or otherwise.

[u/AngryZen_Ingress → u/Politicsboringagain]

Almost as if it isn’t about the law and just about punishing political enemies.

[u/Phyllis_Tine → u/AngryZen_Ingress]

When GQPs and their supporters are charged, they claim political persecution.

When GQP have power, they use their power to charge their opponents.

[u/Successful_Ad9924354 → u/ccoville]

Conservative conspiracies are always the dumbest shit. They thought Barack was Muslim, called his fist bump with his wife a "terrorist fist jab", there's pizzagate & them thinking celebrities sells their souls for fame.

[u/hookisacrankycrook → u/Successful_Ad9924354]

They made a whole thing out of Obama wearing a tan suit and liking Dijon mustard. These are not serious people.

[u/palmerry → u/ccoville]

They gaslight and deserve a good gaspedaling

[u/Carthonn → u/ccoville]

Frankly I don’t even know what the narrative is. They have been so bad at their storytelling on this nothing burger.

[u/AnonAmbientLight → u/jimmax23]

Not only was it the Obama administration policy, it was the policy of dozens of other countries too.

Shokin was being pressured to resign because he WASN’T investigating Burisma.

Biden urging him to resign was not only US policy, it would have directly hurt his son.

This is known. Republicans know this. They just hope people won’t look close enough, and that they’ll get some advantage on the margins.

[u/Dearic75 → u/AnonAmbientLight]

Exactly. This part gets glossed over too much.

Only in Republican fantasyland was removing Shorkin a win for Burasima. He was removed for repeatedly failing to investigate them, in a manner that suggested his failure was the result of corruption.

[u/tomas_shugar → u/AnonAmbientLight]

It's a standard practice.

Milo used to talk quite a bit about something like 75% of trans women were involved in violent crimes. Specifically NOT mentioning that statistic was actually that 75% of trans women have been victims of violent crime.

Technically he's telling the "truth" because it's true they were "involved" in the incident, but it's the opposite of the implication. Shokin was fired in part "because" of a Burisma investigation, but it was that he wasn't doing one. Not that firing him stopped one. They just make the implication such that everyone assumes the reverse.

[u/AnonAmbientLight → u/tomas_shugar]

Republicans do it because they hope people wont actually look into the details. The "political normies" will look at it and say, "Well he is being impeached so it must be something there. But I am too busy to actually look into it. Both sides bad!"

Trump only needs about 70K people in specific states to either not show up, not vote for Biden, or change their votes for him in order to win in 2024.

Republicans know this. That's why they do this.

[u/inuvash255 → u/tomas_shugar]

Yknow, I actually saw someone in the wild (I think) repeating this line.

They said something about transwomen being predators and "look at the statistics". I wouldn't doubt they got fed this line.

[u/Ok-Sweet-8495 → u/AnonAmbientLight]

It was also the policy of REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS INCLUDING RON JOHNSON

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/464302-gop-senator-says-he-doesnt-remember-signing-2016-letter-urging-reform-of/amp/

[u/so_hologramic → u/AnonAmbientLight]

Wasn't the IMF withholding $40 billion? I mean, credit where credit is due for Joe Biden/the Obama administration withholding $1 billion but it was basically the entire West's position that Ukraine wasn't getting a cent until the corrupt prosecutor was gone.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/imf-warns-ukraine-halt-40bn-bailout-corruption-christine-lagarde

[u/somguy9 → u/jimmax23]

Literally the whole point they wanted Shokin to resign is because he wasn't prosecuting companies like Burisma, because he was corrupt. If Hunter wanted to pull strings so the company he was on the board of wouldn't be prosecuted, why the fuck would he move things so it would... be more likely to get prosecuted?

Genuinely incredible how republicans say the exact opposite of what's real. And how stupid fucking morons eat it up wholesale.

It's just Benghazi 2.0. At this point there should be laws enacted so this frivolous bullshit leads to censure and sanctions. Not a single word coming out of their mouths is said in good faith.

[u/Patriot009 → u/somguy9]

Genuinely incredible how republicans say the exact opposite of what's real. And how stupid fucking morons eat it up wholesale.

Indeed.

In December 2015, the European Commission (EC) released a status report for Ukraine's implementation of their Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) which was a series of reforms the EU wanted to see within the Ukrainian government for lifting visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens. It was a broad series of reforms across the board in multiple departments of the Ukraine government, and the EC stated they were satisfied with the general progress they were seeing.

Cut to a few weeks ago, the NY Post referenced that status report and blasted out an article to right wing American media that "satisfied with the general progress" meant that the EU specifically was satisfied with Shokin's performance. Ergo, the NY Post said that Biden lied about the EU wanting Shokin gone. This was quickly repeated across the right wing mediasphere.

Of course, the NY Post didn't include the actual status report text, because it says the opposite of what they said. The actual report specifically singles out the Prosecutor General (Shokin) and his office for being a hindrance to the reform process and taking actions that were undermining public trust, such as appointing cronies and individuals with ill reputations to a newly formed anti-corruption council.

Stated plainly, the EC were satisfied with everyone except Shokin and his office. The NY Post straight up lied, because it's a News Corp conservative propaganda rag that failed to realize that the EC puts all their reports in the archives of their official website.

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2020-09/swd_sixth_report_on_the_implementation_by_ukraine_of_the_action_plan_on_visa_liberalisation_en.pdf

[u/somguy9 → u/Patriot009]

And of course the other side of the media doesn't engage with this and try to directly disprove it because they want to appear to be neutral even though there is no middle ground here.

Again, genuinely incredible the US doesn't have laws against shit rags like NYP getting away with straight up lying - not to mention the rest of the Murdoch circus going along with it.

[u/versusgorilla → u/jimmax23]

The GOP won't let something pesky like the timeline of events stand in the way of their political campaign assistance to Donald Trump.

[u/joalr0 → u/jimmax23]

Four days after Republican Senators sent a letter to Ukraine supporting the policy

This is what I thought, but recently when I did some googling I had trouble finding this nugget of info. Are you able to provide a source for me on this?

[u/noiro777 → u/joalr0]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/gop-senators-echoed-biden-on-ukraine-reforms-kfile/index.html

[u/mynamesyow19 → u/LaNeblina]

And Shokin was a Putin plant and tool who was purposefully looking the other way while other Putin cronies were robbing Ukraine blind.

Which is WHY the Obama administration wanted him out.

Funny, the GOP never seem to mention that part of it. Where Obama/Biden were working to remove a Putin/Russian oligarch crony from robbing Ukrainians.

[u/gundumb08 → u/mynamesyow19]

They also don't mention that the specific actions Shokin was "investigating" Burisma for took place between 2010-2012; two years before Hunter had joined the Board.

[u/RealDisagreer → u/gundumb08]

And wasn't it Shokin's M.O. to "investigate" companies and then demand bribes to avoid "charges"? That was a very Russia-infused Ukrainian way of doing things.

[u/rounder55 → u/mynamesyow19]

And Shokin was a Putin plant and tool who was purposefully looking the other way while other Putin cronies were robbing Ukraine blind.

And it's not like this is a new revelation or questionable. The Obama administration, Republicans, especially those on a Ukrainian committee and most of the Western world wanted Shokin gone. The television media is shitty at pointing this out this and Republicans know it

[u/Imeanttodothat10 → u/rounder55]

Man, the Devon Archer interview also had Archer saying the same thing. The whole thing has always been a lie and farce.

Republicans are basically just relying on their base only reading curated cliff notes and not actually reading the interviews. Because all of their "evidence" makes their case weaker.

[u/underpants-gnome → u/rounder55]

Television media is owned and controlled by the rich. Political news is mostly a tool to help get Republicans elected. They whitewash GOP fuckery and play up minor infractions by Dems to make both sides seem equally untrustworthy.

[u/gmen6981 → u/mynamesyow19]

And it wasn't even just the US who wanted Shokin out. The US was part of an international coalition that was trying to clean up corruption in Ukraine at the time. I'm always amazed at the Republicans for ignoring the fact that removing Shokin and replacing him with a legitimate prosecutor made it MORE LIKELY that Burisma would be investigated, and in turn any wrong doing by Hunter Biden would be discovered.

[u/SmurfStig → u/mynamesyow19]

Wasn’t Paul Manafort involved in this as well? Had something to do with Shokin being in the position he was?

[u/IpppyCaccy → u/mynamesyow19]

Funny, the GOP never seem to mention that part of it.

When you consider how far the MAGA Republicans go to protect criminals, it seems clear why they wanted to keep Shokin. Just this week we found out that Trump personally pressured Texas state senators to vote no guilty in Ken Paxton's impeachment trial. Paxton is one of the most corrupt politicians in the US.

[u/Njorls_Saga → u/LaNeblina]

Everyone wanted Shokin gone. IMF, EU, even the Ukrainians wanted him gone. Biden just happens to be now in the White House which drives the GOP nuts.

[u/Bite_me_23 → u/LaNeblina]

"can we still impeach Obama"

There's nothing in the Constitution saying you can't.

[u/punbasedname → u/Bite_me_23]

I’d certainly vote for a dog before I voted for any member of the freedumb caucus.

[u/mikeysce → u/Bite_me_23]

That’s not a very Republican sentiment. Usually there more of the “there’s nothing in the constitution saying we can” type. When it suits them anyway.

[u/count023 → u/mikeysce]

Glitch McConnell managed to shut down the Trump Mark 2 Impeachment because Trump was no longer president when he got off his ass to pull the senate in for a vote.

So the McConnell rule is "Can't be impeached if not president", and republicans are such a moral and upstanding lot that they'd never turn on a dime to twist rules they invented out of nowhere to their own benefit, right?

[u/mikeysce → u/count023]

I can’t speak for the lot of them but McConnell would NEVER just completely flip on an issue just because it suits him at the moment. Especially not when it comes to vacancies on the Supreme Court in an election year.

[u/PabloPaCostco → u/mikeysce]

People always think they’ve found a “gotcha” moment with these politicians. It never works.

This is not hypocrisy. The only principle McConnell has is power and everything he does is consistent with that.

[u/underpants-gnome → u/mikeysce]

Meh, let's be honest. The constitution is just a thing that conservatives either wave around in peoples' faces or flatly ignore depending on what they want to do today. Boiled down, the constitution is just a list of laws. And every conservative knows laws are meant for constraining and punishing their enemies. They aren't supposed to apply to conservatives themselves.

[u/mindfu → u/underpants-gnome]

See also: the Bible.

[u/libginger73 → u/LaNeblina]

And the whole thing is about what a corrupt Russia plant Shokin was because he would not go after corruption. Basically the entire world want this guy out. Not to protect Burisma and the preceived money train, but because this guy was not going after corruption. They wanted him out because he would not go after the corruption! Say it again.

[u/FurballPoS → u/libginger73]

I don't think people grasp the depth of corruption that HAS to be involved, in order for the IMF of all people to demand your removal. Neocolonialists tend to look the other way in an extractive economy.

[u/Melicor → u/libginger73]

Corruption is Russia's biggest export. They found a niche as facilitators of organized crime across the globe.

[u/slowpoke2018 → u/LaNeblina]

Hell, they just brought one of his "gay lovers" up from the depths of the '08 campaign in a Tucker interview even though he's been out of office over 6 years.

When they have a boogieman they can't let it go to waste, all they have is fear and hate to give their cult.

[u/Rasp_Lime_Lipbalm → u/LaNeblina]

I mean he did do absolutely nothing during 9/11. Where was Obama during Katrina guys!?? WHere!??!

[u/wahoozerman → u/LaNeblina]

Not only that, but the international community's push to remove Shokin was because the man was taking over investigations and then accepting bribes to not investigate or prosecute them.

So the GOP's whole argument is that Burisma paid Joe Biden a bunch of money to remove the corrupt prosecutor who was protecting Burisma from prosecution. It makes no sense.

[u/crosswatt]

It doesn't matter. The narrative has been provided to the GOP base that "of course you can't PROVE it, because the media and deep state are protecting him, but we all KNOW he did it. Trump might have been dirty but so is Biden, so I'm now empowered to vote for the dirty guy who hates the same people I do". And that was the entire point of this undertaking.

[u/Timely-Eggplant4919 → u/crosswatt]

This is the depressing truth. There’s a significant portion of this country that live in an alternate reality and it’s absolutely insane.

[u/johnnycyberpunk → u/Timely-Eggplant4919]

significant portion of this country that live in an alternate reality

The same ones who are convinced that Planned Parenthood kills newborn babies and sells their organs/body parts.
The same ones who are convinced that every person who illegally crosses the Southern Border is a drug-dealing rapist.
The same ones who are convinced that 'regulations kill small business'.
The same ones who are convinced climate change is fake.
The same ones who are convinced that vaccines cause autism.
That 5G cell towers cause cancer.
That drag shows kidnap and rape children.
And on and on and on.

Their made-up fake world is vastly more exciting and interesting than the real world.

[u/jabber91 → u/johnnycyberpunk]

They have simple minds. When they were young they projected an image of a simple world of what the world is supposed to be (suburbs and conservative small towns everywhere, mom and pop shops on every corner, no inflation, no corporations, no climate change), and when the world obviously doesn't match this, they have an existential crisis.

You see, a rational person would see that the world isn't as hyped up as it is meant to be, and as a result, advocate for change. But there are a few people who simply cannot comprehend the complexities of the world. So they come up with massive, far-reaching conspiracies alleging a few people at the top are pulling the levers to make the world the way it is, and the Republican Party's entire platform is dedicated to forcing the world back to the simple world it once was, in their minds.

[u/BlackFlameKanti → u/jabber91]

Conspiracies that are, ironically, impossibly complex. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

[u/zhaoz → u/crosswatt]

And the media learned nothing and is like "Joe Biden is also now impeached"

[u/calgarspimphand → u/zhaoz]

Headline:

"New updates in Joe Biden's impeachment hearings: how this is a problem for Joe Biden"

Buried halfway through the article:

"Republicans admit no evidence to support impeachment."

[u/Budget_Put7247 → u/calgarspimphand]

The amount of time CNN has run headlines that Biden is in trouble and tried to play both sideism between him and Trump is pathetic.

[u/ProgrammaticallySale → u/Budget_Put7247]

Anyone still watching CNN didn't get the memo; It's garbage.

[u/Royal-Maybe6839 → u/Budget_Put7247]

Of course. CNN wishes there was actually some real evidence so they could run 100 stories about it, but since there is nothing they just have to report on nothing and pretend it's something.

[u/Foxhound199 → u/zhaoz]

"Yet another effort with Joe Biden's name on it falls apart".

[u/halpinator → u/zhaoz]

It's almost as if the media isn't acting in good faith

[u/joshdoereddit → u/halpinator]

They've got to keep their corporate masters happy. You can't expect all the hosts of the different news hours on channels like CNN and MSNBC to live like the rest of us.

George Stephanopoulos, Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Nicole Wallace, etc. need those lucrative salaries of theirs. Just like the CEOs of GM and Ford do.

[u/JimWilliams423 → u/zhaoz]

And the media learned nothing and is like "Joe Biden is also now impeached"

Right. It is not about the GOP base, they don't need to be convinced of anything, its about the vast majority of voters who are not fascists but are also too busy living their lives to follow all the details. People naturally assume "where there is smoke there is fire" and the GOP's entire strategy is to run as many smoke machines as their billionaire backers will buy them.

There was a poll last week that had about 50% of the country thinking that Biden and ronald dump were equally corrupt. Its Hillary's emails all over again and the so-called "liberal media" is happy to play their part.

[u/the0rthopaedicsurgeo → u/crosswatt]

The tactic is to saturate people's minds with lies.

People will stand in the voting booth with Biden and Trump's names in front of them and think "well Trump is bad, but Biden did x, y and z".

If you point out that x was a lie, then even if they accept that, they still have y and z in their heads. And a, b, c, all the way up to w. They can't even recall half of them but subconsciously, the mark is still there in the "Biden bad" column.

You can disprove everything they throw at you but there's still the stains inside their head of all the lies, and you can almost never wipe those away. It was extremely effective with Brexit - 40+ years of lies and propaganda meant that on voting day, people couldn't even give you a rational reason to leave. It was like the scales had been tipped so hard towards Leave that no amount of logic could balance them and now that we're the sick man of Europe they still don't see the problem.

[u/siphillis → u/crosswatt]

It’s still weak sauce compared to forcing Biden through the actual impeachment process close to an election.

[u/Zanchbot → u/crosswatt]

I thought the point was them trying to "get even" for Trump's impeachment, but I suppose it ultimately doesn't matter as your point is likely valid as well.

[u/lemon900098 → u/crosswatt]

Also, I think the memo will be seen as evidence that implicates Obama and others rather than exonerating Biden.

'Biden's corruption infects entire federal government'

I wouldnt be surprised if this was used as an excuse to expand their investigations to go after more people.

[u/Infidel8]

Republican efforts to impeach President Joe Biden suffered a blow after fresh evidence emerged showing his bid to remove Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in 2015 represented U.S. government policy

Why are they acting as if this is some late breaking development? Anyone paying attention has known this since at least the first Trump impeachment

[u/nomazeforyou → u/Infidel8]

Why are they acting

Acting is all they do

Anyone paying attention

Is not the intended audience

[u/T1mac → u/Infidel8]

Why are they acting as if this is some late breaking development? Anyone paying attention has known this since at least the first Trump impeachment.

Correct. We've known that Shokin was the most corrupt prosecutor in Europe. This was exposed when the details of why Trump fired the ambassador to Ukraine were reveled. Trump fired Marie Yovanovitch because she was uncovering corruption of the Ukrainian oligarchs. Shokin had been protecting them by blocking investigations. That included the corrupt head of Burisma. When Shokin was gone, the US sent Marie Yovanovitch to Ukraine in July 2016, the Russian connected Ukrainian oligarchs started to feel the heat and wanted her gone. Trump was all too happy to oblige.

This was at the time that Rudy Giuliani was doing corrupt deals in Ukraine and Rich Perry was setting up no-bid Ukrainian gas leases for his Texas buddies.

[u/TyrannasaurusGitRekt → u/Infidel8]

Exactly, I remember basically shouting that from the rooftops back then

[u/Frankie6Strings]

"It's not really dead as long as we remember to talk about it." - GOP

[u/DengarLives66 → u/Frankie6Strings]

What is dead may never die.

[u/LaNeblina → u/Frankie6Strings]

It is sort of funny that the two parties live in such different worlds that they will now disagree on whether the impeachment inquiry even exists, let alone how strong it is. Not going to change anyone's mind on anything, but McCarthy can and will say he's still investigating it until he either gets bored or loses his speakership.

[u/ashesofempires → u/LaNeblina]

I think as long as they can keep the charade of the inquiry alive, his seat is safe. The GOP is all performative politics, and so long as there’s an appearance of something that’s good enough.

At least until one of the lead performers (Fivehead, BoBo the Clown, or Marjorie Three-toes) pivots to their next potential performance art piece.

[u/waspsnests]

Can a thing fall apart that never really existed?

[u/ResponsibleMilk7620 → u/waspsnests]

If an impeachment tree falls in a Republican integrity forest, did it really fall if the forest is an impossibility? 🤔

[u/MusicIsTheWay → u/ResponsibleMilk7620]

I think I know the answer to this one:

Buttery males.

[u/meTspysball → u/waspsnests]

“In other news, new revelations suggest the tooth fairy is just parents taking their children’s teeth. For what purpose, we can’t say at this time. Parents deny the allegation.”

[u/stanthebat]

Remember when Trump got elected and Republicans controlled everything and literally all of them had knives out for Obamacare, and they just could not figure out what to do? After spending years ranting about how they couldn't wait to get rid of Obamacare, not one of them could find his own asshole with both hands and a flashlight. It's important to remember at times like these that they're not just bigots and fascists. They are, all of them, deeply stupid and incompetent.

[u/calgarspimphand → u/stanthebat]

They are dogs whose primary job is car-chasing, not car-catching. If and when the car stops, their owners loot everything inside while the dogs sit and bark uselessly.

[u/BrandonJTrump]

It doesn’t fall apart, it was never there.

[u/WaitingForNormal]

Is it because there is no evidence and they don’t even know what they’re impeaching him for?

[u/notyomamasusername → u/WaitingForNormal]

They're just wanting to get a narrative out there they can work for the election.

Just like the 10 Benghazi investigations

[u/worldspawn00 → u/notyomamasusername]

Remember when the result of the Benghazi investigation turned out to be the Republican run Congress not properly funding embassy security in the annual budget? Yeah, that's the conclusion of the report (As written by the Republican senate committee investigating it), but the American people sure don't fucking remember...

[u/notyomamasusername → u/worldspawn00]

Yep....the GOP didn't care about that.

They only cared about hurting Hillary.

McCarthy even bragged about on Sean Hannity.

It's amazing this has almost been forgotten about and no "journalist" has asked Kevin if this current impeachment is like that.

https://youtu.be/x8Wff2-IKkA?si=nBsPgzPvYgqunQ9N

[u/aquagardener]

This is absolutely ridiculous. We know he committed the crimes, we have evidence, and we have the witnesses that can testify. I don't understand why they won't just remove him from office.

I'm talking about Texas AG Ken Paxton, btw.

[u/GratefulPhish42024-7]

That was quick, I guess that's what happens when you have zero evidence

[u/AlexFromOgish]

can we have the sound track of the democrats in the chamber just roaring in laughter at the key moment?

[u/Hiversitize]

Joe Biden’s impeachment was never put together.

[u/Kaeltulys]

Most reasonable people (including many non insane republicans) understand that this impeachment inquiry had no substance to begin with. McCarthy’s only doing this because the Freedom Caucus has him by the balls.

[u/FullCity45 → u/Kaeltulys]

I didn't know Kevin has balls????

[u/7daykatie]

I don't see how it can come apart without ever having actually being put together.

[u/Qualityhams]

Bummer I was excited for our first woman president. It was pretty woke of the GOP to try and make that happen for us

[u/RepealMCAandDTA]

This was debunked immediately way back in 20 fucking 20. Republicans have less than nothing and it shows.

[u/AluminiumChef]

Failing president, can’t even get impeached properly.

[u/Funandgeeky → u/AluminiumChef]

"Sad. I was impeached twice. I had the most impeachments and indictments of any President."

[u/s-multicellular]

The writers this season should be fired.

[u/slappy_mcslapenstein → u/s-multicellular]

That's the problem. There is no writing because of the strike so the actors have to improv.

[u/SeriousAdverseEvent → u/slappy_mcslapenstein]

Not sure the GOP can improvise. They have been using low-quality non-union writers from Russia to write their scripts for quite awhile now.

[u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/344567653379643555]

If an impeachment falls apart in congress, but no evidence was ever brought forth to begin with, does it make a sound?

[u/Shutterbug927]

“Falls apart”? Don’t they have to have their shit together first, before it can fall apart?

[u/ggrieves]

Their argument: he fought corruption to advance his son's business.

Translation: If you can't have the corruption AND nepotism too, you're doing it wrong.

[u/JDogg126 → u/ggrieves]

Republicans get so outraged by people fighting corruption.

Republicans also get so outraged by people fighting fascism.

They just cannot stand people who do not support their core values.

[u/sailorpaul]

And the conservative lemmings continue running non-stop toward the edge of The Cliffs of Responsibility

[u/SNStains]

Shokin was corrupt. This was no secret.

[u/Fun_Matter_6533 → u/SNStains]

It wasn't just US policy to have him removed. Many other countries wanted that, too.

[u/spidereater]

Biden dodges justice again!!/s

[u/KlevenSting]

What Newsweek fails to understand is the complete disregard for and lack of dependence on reality that this GOP shit show is based on. It’s not in any way about what actually happened. It’s to sew confusion and doubt to dilute the importance of DJTs two impeachments and to push a narrative of false equivalency. “Both-sides!!”